Mary learns about the ins and out of friendship, romance, and family in this oh so adorable young adult romance.

I saw this book when I attended YALLfest in November. It was on display at the publisher table, but they did not have any physical copies to give out at the time. I was happy to find it available on Edelweiss days later!

I’m a huge lover of romance, and the romance in this book is super, chocolaty, gooey cute. But guys, the friendships. THE FRIENDSHIPS. Mary’s growing relationship with Arden, Lydia, and Terry are perfection. Their banter, their support, and their quest to categorize every person is life. This book shows the importance of friendships – from those friends you outgrow to those friends you find when you least expect.

Back to the romance – it’s subtle, but really sweet. Alex and Mary’s relationship is not the focus of much of the novel, but he is very much the leading man. I adore how the book turns Mary’s perceptions of a hero and villain on her head. It’s an earned moment when Mary comes full circle – is she the hero, the cad, or somewhere in-between?

tl;dr An utterly adorable book focused on friends and family with a sweet twist of romance.

Mary Porter-Malcolm has not been raised in the traditional way. Her parents are academics who have kept out technology and encouraged the reading of classics by every child they have. And, until this year, they have also had Mary enrolled at a small, charter school with an emphasis on Socratic seminars and independent study.

Now MPM must attend the local high school and learn how to navigate the halls of the campus and the social orders. Luckily, she at least knows how to avoid the scoundrels because she's read about all kinds.

When she meets three girls who need a little guidance to avoid one of those scoundrels, MPM is happy to join them and they are happy to return the favor by giving her every possible high school experience by the end of the year.

What MPM didn't expect was for that very first scoundrel to end up being the very person she might want to spend time with.

Final thoughts: This one was hard to get into because it felt like Sellet was trying her best to either show off all the classics that she had read and/or to try and convince her readers to go out and read them. So much of this book ended up being long discussions about book after book and all of the scoundrels contained in those pages. Even the first few chapters felt like Sellet was trying to write using the same language as those classic authors. That may have been a narrative choice as that language was toned down over the course of the book as MPM became more accustomed to modern interactions and kept her nose out of the books. The problem with that is that it makes it more difficult for the reader to get into the story from the start. The ending was also a little flat and sudden so, while Alex was a pretty cool character, we didn't get to know him and that brought the overall story down.

Rating: 2.5/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

This book was pretty cute, the cover is also one of my favorites. It is the story of a teen (15) who uses literally classics as a guide to living her life and making choices regarding friends and love interests. I really enjoyed all the references to classics but I didn’t really love that it spoiled them, as well. At times I felt it read a bit dry and got boring, but I still felt compelled to continue reading. All in all, I thought this was a good read I just hated that it did the whole miscommunication trope and the main character, though young, acted pretty naive.

I received this free eARC novel from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

I was extremely excited to get this novel early because I loved the cover and the synopsis from the moment I saw it. And for the most part I enjoyed this novel.

Mary is a bit judgmental in this novel. She thinks she's trying to avoid a certain type of guy, but she's really judging them before getting to know them. After 10 minutes in their company, she has everything figured out and has put then in their character category.

I'm all about comparing guys in real life to fictional characters I love but I wouldn't go to the extreme that Mary did it.

I also have to say that I'm glad Mary found some great new friends after getting kicked to the curb by an old friend. I went through something very eerily similar in high school (it even happened at lunchtime in the cafeteria) do I know how terrible it feels and how hard it is to make new friends.

And as much as I love to read, I wasn't able to really connect to many of the references in this novel because I don't read classic literature. I'm not sure if anyone else will be put off from this like I was, but it is something to note for future readers.

I did enjoy this novel, though, and I predict many readers are going to love this novel. I'm glad i got a chance to read this eARC novel

I don’t really like YA contemporary much and I’m super picky about romance in general, but this was adorable. Mary, our MC, always has her nose stuck in a book (relatable) and she is fixated on 19th C classics (super relatable). When she seems to be entering a romance of her own, she attempts to steer the course with help from her beloved 19th C novels with disastrous and hilarious results. Honestly, this is more for those wanting a YA rom-com and what made it work for me was the love the author has for the subject matter ie 19th C novels. But as someone who has an enduring love for the classics, this was perfect.

Thank you for the ARC but I DNF this one. I read about 50-80 pages and just couldn’t get into it. I’m not sure the writing style was for me

Adorable! Love, love, love Amanda Sellet's By the Book! This is a perfect YA literary rom-com that hits all the right notes. As a middle school librarian, I will definitely be adding this to my collection. Although main character Mary has sometimes old beyond her years vocabulary, she is well-versed in Brit lit classics, so that can be forgiven. I will recommend this to all my students looking for their next girl-meets-bad-boy but is he really? read. Super enjoyable! Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC.

What to read while wearing your Pride and Prejudice socks and sipping tea out of your Bronte sisters mug. Mary Porter Malcolm, who usually has her nose buried the the pages of a Victorian novel, is pushed from the tiny, cozy nest of a super-small private school and the comfort of her siblings into the OMG world of public high school. Relying on the tips she's picked up from classic literature, she makes some friends who take Mary under their wing and put together the quintessential experience list for a girl about to be sixteen. From shopping at the mall to going to a dance, they've got her covered, provided Mary doesn't type cast everyone as a character who lived centuries ago. There are laugh out loud moments, more literary references than a British Literature syllabus, and a female heroine you'll add to your list of favorites.

This was a light, fluffy read that, while I mostly enjoyed, just unfortunately fell a bit flat. Part of it was the voice and style; it was really hard to imagine Gen Z teenagers, even a bookish, sheltered one like Mary, saying some of the things they said in the book, and because of that it was hard for me to get into it. The plot sometimes meandered a little and some of the characters, including the love interest, felt underdeveloped.
All of that being said, I thought the book was overall very cute and engaging. Mary is a charming protagonist, even if I wanted to rip my hair out toward the end because of her indecision and passivity. Her family is eccentric and chaotic and delightful; the scenes with her parents, sisters, and Jasper (!!!) were my favorites. Her friend group, while sometimes not believable as teenagers, were sweet and really helped Mary to open up. I do wish that the author had used the friends to expand a bit on Mary's perceptions of friendship; I wasn't convinced by the end that Mary understood just how horribly she had been treated, by Anjuli in particular, and knew that she deserved better and should stand up for herself.
Overall, this was a nice way to spend a long flight, and I would definitely recommend it for fans of TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE and books like it.

I read this book early thanks to #NetGalley.

I didn't put this book down! I loved everything about it. The characters are awesome and a great example of High School dynamics. I will recommend this book to High school readers as soon as we get it! The literary references are fantastic! Mary may feel like her name is "boring" but this book is anything but.

Mary was easy to relate to and realistically quirky. I wish there would have been a little more interaction between Mary and Alex, but overall I thought this was a nice read.

A solid 3 stars but I almost gave it 2. Then I remebered that, if I had been a few years younger, I would've enjoyed this story with more energy. If you're new to the young adult genre, this book is a great starter. There's no clear sexual material. The most the characters ever do is kiss. So, for a young adult romance, this is very tame. This is perfect for ages 13 to 15 but that's about it. While the main character is book smart, she is emotionally immature and she acts like a child. It was difficult for me to relate to a character with such a young, naiive personality,

While Mary is meant to be written as a modern day Elizabeth Bennet heroine, her actions are decidedly not Elizabeth-like. She's impulsive and acts more selfishly as the book progresses. I relate to some of her experiences, such as getting ditched by friends at school, and I felt for her in that moment. However, does she have to quote classic novels all the time? I quote novels but I don't do it all the time. When I say Mary quotes books constantly, I mean I couldn't find a single line of dialogue where she expresses her own thoughts. This makes Mary's character out to be the opposite of unique, a character with nothing new to offer. Her personality is entirely borrowed from other people and fictional characters. She had such promise, it's a real shame.

My main issue with the plot is the love story between Alex and Mary. Alex Ritter is barely in the book. Sometimes his name comes up, but only for Mary and her friends to insult him. He appears at the beginning of the story, then in the last 20 pages. I honestly forgot about him. The romance felt forced or at least rushed. If Alex was featured more in the book, I would have liked him. But as is, Alex doesn't spend enough time with the reader. The premise of this book is exciting and lovely, but the plot is one dimensional, perhaps fitting for a beach read.